Ikea and Neste Are Working on Fossil-Free Plastics

Swedish-founded furniture retailer Ikea wants to have a positive impact on people and the planet while growing the business, which includes using more renewable and recycled materials and explore new materials for its products.

As part of this journey, the company is working to change all of the plastic used in Ikea products to plastic based on recycled and/or renewable materials by 2030. Ikea and Finnish refiner of oil products and manufacturer of renewable diesel Neste are now able to turn waste and residue raw materials, such as used cooking oil, as well as sustainable vegetable oils into polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) plastic. The pilot at commercial scale, chosen to contain 20 percent renewable content, will start during fall 2018. According to Neste, it will be the first large-scale production of renewable, bio-based polypropylene plastic globally. The production of plastics will be based on Neste’s 100 percent renewable hydrocarbons, the Finnish company gave account. Ikea would use the new plastic in products that are part of the current product range, such as plastic storage boxes, starting with a limited number of products. “As capacities improve, more products will follow.”

GR 2/2018